India-UK Advanced Technology Centre (IU-ATC)
The India-UK Advanced Technology Centre (IU-ATC) of excellence in next generation networks systems and services is a virtual joint research initiative which will put in place a focused agenda to support collaborative PhD, Post Doctorate projects and joint research programs, and technology transfer between the UK and India.
This UK-India consortium-based initiative has been established in direct response to a previous request from the British High Commission in India. The IU-ATC consortium has developed and matured over the past two years through a series of workshops supported by EPSRC and the British High Commission in India, commencing with a Technical Workshop in January/February 2006. The consortium comprises 8 research-leading universities in UK, 5 leading IITs, major industrial partners in UK and India (including companies such as BT, InfoSys, Wipro, Sasken, and Tejas), and a number of SMEs. The initiative establishs the first virtual IU-ATC in Next Generation Networks, Systems and Services, which will put in place the support infrastructure to facilitate, develop and enable the Digital Economy of both countries. This will be achieved through scientific investigation of the technical and functional requirements of Next Generation Networks through the promotion of industry collaboration with research-leading academic institutions and government departments in the UK and India.
Phase 1 of IUATC began in August 2009 and Phase 2 begins in June 2012. It is noteworthy to mention here that this is the largest Indo-UK collaboration and has recently attracted a 10 million pounds boost.
The investment will support the second phase of research into next generation Telecommunications networks- state-of-the-art platforms and applications that will carry voice, video and data in the future Internet. This is a key part of the work of the India-UK Advanced Technology Centre (IU-ATC), a collaborative programme funded by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) and industrial partners in both countries.
The funding will allow the Centre to focus its efforts to develop low-cost solutions for rural access to broadband, improved use of available spectrum as well as applications for rural health monitoring, emergency and disaster communications, social TV-Virtual Classrooms and other services. The ultimate aim of the IU-ATC is to develop solutions that can scale to benefit the lives of millions of users as well as the Digital Economy in both the UK and India.